Irish OL recruit was an easy sell

In a family with 35 football-crazy cousins, Mike McGlinchey could have sought college football recruiting advice from a number of different sources, but one cousin stood out above the rest.

It might have been a little unfair to the other 34 considering his cousin of choice is the starting quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons and former Boston College standout Matt Ryan.

"He gave me advice about the process," McGlinchey said. "I was a little guy when Matt was going through it, so I didn't really remember too much about it."

It's hard to imagine McGlinchey as a little guy, but after growing into his 6-foot-9, 280-pound frame, McGlinchey needed updated advice from Ryan.

"He said make sure you're going to be happy and make sure you enjoy it and make sure you find a good spot for yourself academically and football-wise," McGlinchey said. "I think I found all those things that he told me about."

McGlinchey, a junior from William Penn Charter School in Philadelphia, found all those things when he visited Notre Dame late last month for junior day.

"Everything was amazing. It blew me away in every aspect," McGlinchey said of his three-day visit.

Shortly after leaving campus, McGlinchey heard from Notre Dame coaches that they would be taking only four offensive lineman commits. With three already committed and a fourth possibly on the verge, McGlinchey decided to verbally commit to the Irish coaching staff.

"I didn't want to lose the opportunity of Notre Dame. I definitely made the right decision," McGlinchey said.

Making that decision was a little easier for McGlinchey after coming into the visit with a little bit of a bias."I knew I wanted to go to Notre Dame the whole time," he said. "I've grown up a lifelong fan. I've been dreaming about going to play football at Notre Dame since I was in kindergarten."

McGlinchey hadn't even narrowed the list of favorites before committing to the Irish.

"Honestly, I didn't really have a list," McGlinchey said. "I had no idea I was going to commit to Notre Dame that weekend. But circumstances were what they were. I knew I wanted to commit right there anyway."

And with three days on campus and a verbal pledge, McGlinchey said he's shutting down the recruiting process.

"I'm done," he said. "I'm 100 percent Notre Dame."

McGlinchey said watching the team go through spring practice and seeing head coach Brian Kelly and offensive line coach Harry Hiestand in action played a large role in his willingness to commit so soon.

"He's my favorite offensive line coach out there," McGlinchey said of Hiestand. "He's a great person along with being a great coach."

A three-sport athlete in high school (football, basketball and track), McGlinchey will bring both size and athleticism to the offensive line. This past basketball season, McGlinchey averaged 15 points and 15 rebounds even if he wasn't the biggest player on the court at 6-9. McGlinchey said he went up against a couple 7-footers this past season.

On the football field, McGlinchey plays with strength and quickness on the offensive line.

"I'm naturally pretty strong and quick," McGlinchey said. "I've been told I'm pretty mean out there. Those are my strengths. It's not really for me to say. I just go out and play and focus on doing my job to the best of my ability."

McGlinchey's reputation of having an on-field mean streak might be a result of his preference for run blocking over sitting back in pass sets.

"Run blocking is a lot more fun," he said. "Your goal is to beat the crap out of the guy in front of you, so that makes it a little bit more fun."

In early rankings for the 2013 class McGlinchey is slated as a Top 50 offensive tackle. Rivals ranks him at No. 36 in the country while 247Sports has him slated at No. 26.

With a college commitment out of the way McGlinchey can now enjoy his senior season of football without the pressure of a decision looming even if he was busy doing interviews in the days after his commitment.

"I've definitely got a little bit more publicity in the last week. I shot up to like 500 Twitter followers. That was kind of crazy," McGlinchey said of his Twitter account, @BigGlinch74. "It's definitely a huge relief to know that I'm very comfortable and 100 percent committed to a school that I love and I'm ready to go play for."